Hand-held, cordless indicia readers are widely used in retail settings to aid in the checkout process. These hand-held indicia readers communicate scanned barcode information wirelessly to a host system, which in turn registers price and updates stock information. These hand-held, cordless indicia readers use a rechargeable energy storage component (e.g., battery) as a power source. Typically, the indicia reader is stored in a docking station and physically connected to a power supply in order to replenish the energy of the indicia reader's rechargeable battery. The docking station is equipped with a connector that, when mated with the indicia reader, establishes an electrical connection between the docking station and the indicia reader.
Wireless-charging systems have eliminated the need for this physical electrical connection. In these systems, the energy is transferred to the indicia reader's battery through the mutual inductance between two coils: a transmitting coil and a receiving coil. The transmitting coil (i.e., primary coil) integrated with a host system (e.g., point-of-sale system) inductively couples energy to a receiving coil (i.e., secondary coil) integrated with the indicia reader. The energy is coupled from the receiving coil to the indicia reader's battery through charging circuitry.
Electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems are also widely used in retail settings to prevent the unauthorized removal (e.g., theft) of protected items (e.g., goods for sale) from a controlled area (e.g., the store). In these systems, the controlled area contains the protected items. This controlled area has a boundary with a fixed number of gateways. For a protected item to pass through one of these gateways, it must also pass through an EAS sensor. Small modules known as EAS tags are affixed to protected items stored in the controlled area. These EAS tags exist in one of two states: activated or deactivated. When an activated EAS tag passes through the EAS sensor, an alarm is triggered. Deactivated EAS tags, however, may freely pass through the EAS sensor. In a retail setting, items in the store have are affixed with activated EAS tags. These tags must be deactivated during the check-out process at the point of sale.
To deactivate an EAS tag, the cashier places the tag in proximity with an active coil that subjects the EAS tag to electromagnetic (EM) energy (e.g., a large EM pulse). This energy is sufficient to change the properties of the EAS tag in a way that renders it invisible to the gateway's EAS sensor.
A hand-held, cordless indicia-reader with both wireless charging and EAS deactivation functions would provide many advantages. The added functionalities could eliminate the need for a docking station and deactivation station in the check-out area. This added functionality could also reduce a point-of-sale system's cost and operating complexity. A need, therefore, exists for an indicia reader with both wireless charging and EAS deactivation functionality that is also capable of hand-held and cordless operation.